Thick line

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The so-called thick line (Polish: "gruba kreska") was a term used by prime minister of Poland Tadeusz Mazowiecki in 1989 in his first parliamentary speech in Sejm. He said "We draw a thick line on what has happened in the past. We will only answer for what we have done to help Poland to rescue her from this crisis from now on" ("Przeszłość odkreślamy grubą linią. Odpowiadać będziemy jedynie za to, co uczyniliśmy, by wydobyć Polskę z obecnego stanu załamania").

In more recent years his intentions were either more or less deliberately misunderstood by some people and his "gruba kreska" is often understood as a policy of non-punishment for crimes committed by the communist regime of pre-1989 Poland.